The alert came three days later.
<
Arlo was in the middle of breakfast when Raphael's notification blazed through his consciousness. He nearly choked on his rice.
"Arlo-kun? Are you alright?" Sachiko leaned forward, concern immediate.
"Fine," he managed, coughing slightly. "Wrong pipe."
She patted his back gently, her worry dissolving into an amused smile. "Slow down, silly. The food isn't going anywhere~"
Arlo nodded, forcing himself to eat normally despite the adrenaline spiking through his system. Fourteen minutes. Rocks would be on Elbaf in fourteen minutes.
He needed to finish breakfast. Act normal. Then retreat to his room and activate Far Sight before—
"You seem excited about something," Sachiko observed, tilting her head. "Did you have a good dream?"
"Something like that."
She giggled. "My mysterious little brother. Always thinking about something interesting."
If only she knew.
The moment breakfast concluded and Sachiko left to handle estate business, Arlo practically sprinted to his room. He settled onto his futon, closed his eyes, and pushed his consciousness outward.
Far Sight activated.
His awareness shot across the ocean, spanning impossible distances in heartbeats. The Grand Line unfolded beneath him—chaotic currents, eternal storms, islands defying natural law. And there, cutting through it all with arrogant confidence, was a ship.
No. Not just a ship. The ship.
The vessel was brutal in its simplicity. Dark wood reinforced with iron plating. A skull-and-crossbones flag that seemed to radiate menace. And on the deck, surrounded by figures that would one day become legends in their own right, stood a man.
Rocks D. Xebec.
Even from this distance, even through the abstract perception of Far Sight, the man's presence was overwhelming. He stood at the prow, one hand resting casually on the pommel of his saber, wild dark hair whipping in the wind. His physique was impressive—muscular but not grotesquely so, built for devastating power and explosive speed. Scars marked his torso, each one a story of survival. His grin was wide, toothy, almost manic.
This was a man who looked at the world and saw only things to conquer.
<
Do it. I want everything.
The ship made landfall on one of Elbaf's outer shores. Rocks leaped off before it fully stopped, landing on the beach with casual grace. Behind him, his crew began disembarking—titans of future infamy moving with predatory confidence.
But Rocks didn't wait for them. He walked inland alone, hands in his pockets, whistling some jaunty tune like he was out for a morning stroll rather than invading the homeland of the world's most fearsome warriors.
Ten minutes later, he reached the massive gates of Elbaf's main settlement.
And there, waiting for him with arms crossed and expression unreadable, stood King Harald.
The Ancient Giant was a mountain made flesh. 220 meters of muscle, bone, and willpower wrapped in the regalia of kingship. His sword—easily the size of a Marine battleship—rested against one shoulder. His presence alone could make lesser men kneel.
Rocks looked up at him and grinned wider.
"Harald! My favorite giant! Miss me?"
Harald's expression didn't change. "Rocks. You're early."
"Early? I'm right on time for our weekly chat." Rocks spread his arms theatrically. "Come on, don't be like that. At least offer me a drink before you try to kill me again."
"I haven't tried to kill you in months."
"Exactly! That's basically hospitality by your standards."
Despite everything, Harald's lips twitched. Almost a smile. "You're irreformable."
"I prefer 'charmingly persistent.'" Rocks scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Though 'devastatingly handsome' also works."
"You look like you haven't bathed in weeks."
"Hey now, that's just the sea breeze. Very fashionable among pirates."
Harald sighed—a sound like distant thunder. "What do you want, Rocks?"
The pirate's grin faded, replaced by something more serious. More dangerous. "You know what I want. Same thing I've wanted for years."
"My answer hasn't changed."
"Maybe it should."
From his futon in Wano, Arlo watched the exchange with rapt attention. Raphael worked in the background, dissecting Rocks' physiology with mechanical precision.
<
Show me.
<
<
What else?
<
<
Arlo's breath caught. Voice of All Things. King's Domination. And that was just the surface.
<
As if on cue, the conversation between Rocks and Harald took a turn.
"Join me," Rocks said, all trace of humor gone. "You, Elbaf, every giant warrior on this island. Together we'll bring down the World Government. We'll tear Mary Geoise stone from stone and make the Celestial Dragons bleed for what they've done."
Harald's eyes narrowed. "And replace them with what? Your rule? Another tyrant sitting on a throne of corpses?"
"I'm not looking to rule. I'm looking to free." Rocks stepped forward, voice rising with conviction. "The World Government is a cage, Harald. They call it order, but it's slavery with prettier chains. You think they'll ever accept giants as equals? You think centuries of bloodshed will be forgiven because you bow and scrape?"
"We can change their perception. Prove ourselves through—"
"Through what? Service? Subservience?" Rocks laughed bitterly. "You're the King of Elbaf, not some vassal begging for scraps. Your people are warriors, not pets to be civilized."
"You don't understand." Harald's voice hardened. "For too long, giants have been seen as monsters. Warmongers. Barbarians good only for destruction. I will not perpetuate that image. Elbaf will join the World Government. We will show the world that giants can be more than weapons."
"By becoming their weapons willingly?"
"By becoming their equals."
Rocks stared at him for a long moment. Then he shook his head, something like disappointment crossing his features.
"You're a fool, Harald. A noble fool, but a fool nonetheless." He rested his hand on his saber's hilt. "The World Government doesn't want equals. They want subordinates. And when you realize that—when they use you and discard you like every other 'ally' they've ever had—it'll be too late."
"And your way? Chaos and bloodshed? That's better?"
"My way is freedom. The freedom to choose your own path without some inbred noble deciding your worth." Rocks' grin returned, sharp and dangerous. "But hey, if you'd rather kneel to the people who enslaved your ancestors, who am I to judge?"
The air changed.
It was subtle at first—a pressure building, like the moment before lightning strikes. The ground beneath their feet trembled. Small stones began to levitate.
Harald's hand moved to his sword. "Choose your next words carefully, Rocks."
"Or what? You'll lecture me about responsibility? About duty?" Rocks drew his saber, the curved blade catching the light. "How about this instead: Let's settle this the old-fashioned way. You and me. If I win, you join my crew. If you win..."
"You leave Elbaf. Forever."
"Deal."
The pressure exploded.
<
Arlo didn't respond. Couldn't respond. He was too focused on what was happening.
Because the sky split.
That was the only way to describe it. The clouds overhead, previously calm and peaceful, tore apart as two titanic wills collided. Black lightning erupted from both combatants, crackling and writhing like living things. The very air screamed under the pressure.
Harald drew his colossal blade—a weapon forged for someone 220 meters tall, impossibly massive, inscribed with runes that glowed faint blue. He held it one-handed like it weighed nothing.
Rocks held his comparatively tiny saber and grinned.
They moved.
The first clash was cataclysmic.
Metal met metal with a sound that shattered eardrums across half the island. The shockwave radiated outward in a visible ring of compressed air, flattening trees, pulverizing stone, sending tidal waves crashing against distant shores.
The ground beneath them cratered, spider-web cracks spreading for hundreds of meters. Rocks' boots dug trenches in the earth as Harald's strength threatened to overwhelm him. But the pirate held firm, muscles straining, teeth bared in a savage grin.
"Not bad!" Rocks shouted over the cacophony. "But you'll have to do better than that!"
He pushed, and black lightning exploded from his blade. Conqueror's Haki infused into the steel, turning the weapon into something beyond mere metal. The force drove Harald back a step—an incredible feat considering the size difference.
Harald's response was immediate. His own Conqueror's Haki surged, coating his massive sword in writhing black energy. He swung in a horizontal arc that could bisect mountains.
Rocks ducked under it with impossible agility. The sword passed overhead, and the wind pressure alone carved a canyon through the landscape behind him. Trees were obliterated. Stone was dust.
The pirate came up swinging, targeting Harald's knee. His saber, small as it was, carried force that defied physics. The blade struck—not flesh, but Armament Haki so dense it might as well have been diamond.
Sparks flew. The impact crater beneath them deepened.
<
They separated, circling each other. Harald's expression was focused, analytical. Rocks looked ecstatic.
"You've gotten stronger," the pirate observed. "Been practicing?"
"Every day." Harald adjusted his grip. "You won't defeat me, Rocks. Not today. Not ever."
"We'll see about that."
Rocks blurred.
One moment he was standing fifty meters away. The next he was inside Harald's guard, saber flashing in a complex series of strikes that defied the eye's ability to track. Each blow carried enough force to level buildings, infused with both Armament and Conqueror's Haki.
Harald blocked them all.
His sword moved with precision that seemed impossible for something so massive. Every parry was perfect, every deflection calculated. The clang of metal on metal became a staccato rhythm, each impact releasing pulses of Haki that tore at the surrounding environment.
Then Harald counterattacked.
His blade swung down in a vertical cleave. Rocks raised his saber to block—
The mountain behind them split in half.
Not from the direct strike. From the pressure. Harald's Haki-infused attack carried such devastating force that reality itself seemed to crack. The two halves of the mountain slid apart with glacial inevitability, revealing the perfectly smooth cut surface where his blade's pressure had passed through solid stone like it was paper.
Rocks grunted under the impact, his boots sinking into the ground up to his knees. His arms trembled. Blood trickled from his nose.
But he was laughing.
"Now that's more like it!" He pushed back, muscles bulging, veins standing out on his neck. "Come on, Harald! Show me what a king can do!"
Black lightning intensified around both fighters. The very fabric of space seemed to warp from the concentration of Haki. And then—
They vanished.
Not literally. But they moved so fast that even Far Sight struggled to track them. Afterimages painted the air. Each clash left devastation—craters the size of buildings, canyons carved through landscape, forests reduced to splinters.
<
Arlo watched, transfixed. He'd known the top tiers of One Piece were strong. Had read about their feats, seen their battles in manga panels.
But witnessing it was different.
This wasn't anime exaggeration. This wasn't artistic license. This was real—two beings so far beyond normal human limits that they might as well have been forces of nature. Every strike carried island-shattering force. Every clash of wills made reality bend.
And somewhere deep inside him, something responded.
A spark.
Red lightning, crackling with hints of black and turquoise. It ignited in his core, dancing along the edges of that massive star-shaped presence—the Codex, merged with his very soul. The spark reached out, touching it, communicating with it in ways that bypassed language.
I want to be like that.
I want to be STRONG.
I want to be SUPREME!!
The Codex pulsed in response, approving, hungry for that conviction.
But Arlo forced the feeling down. Controlled it. It was not the time.
Still. The hunger remained.
<
The battle raged on.
Rocks employed techniques that seemed to defy categorization. His saber work was flawless—a style that incorporated elements from a dozen different schools, perfected and unified into something uniquely his own. Every strike had purpose. Every feint carried death.
He used Infernal Destruction—an Armament Haki technique that bypassed external defenses to damage from within. Harald grunted as invisible force ravaged his internals, but his incredible durability kept him standing.
The giant retaliated with overwhelming power. His swings created vacuum blades that carved canyons. His stomps triggered earthquakes. When he thrust his sword forward, the compressed air became a lance that punched through three mountains in succession.
<
They fought for what felt like hours but was probably minutes. The landscape transformed into an unrecognizable hellscape. Mountains toppled. Forests burned. The ocean roared as tidal waves crashed against shores kilometers away.
And neither fighter showed signs of stopping.
Harald's Haki blazed like a beacon—pure, controlled, massive in scale. The presence of a king who ruled through strength tempered by wisdom.
Rocks' Haki was different. Wild, overwhelming, impossible to contain. The presence of a conqueror who acknowledged no master, no limits, no restraint. It crashed against Harald's like a tsunami against a seawall, each wave trying to overwhelm through sheer relentless force.
They clashed again, swords meeting in the center. Black lightning erupted in all directions. The ground beneath them didn't just crack—it shattered, creating a crater a kilometer wide.
Both warriors stood at the epicenter, locked in a contest of pure will.
"You're stubborn," Rocks grunted, teeth clenched.
"You're reckless," Harald responded, sweat dripping down his face.
"Pot, meet kettle."
"You're not even human anymore. You're a disaster with legs."
"Best compliment I've gotten all week."
The pressure intensified. The sky screamed. Reality bent.
And then—
They separated, both breathing hard, both bleeding from dozens of minor wounds. Rocks' saber had hairline cracks along its length. Harald's massive blade bore notches that hadn't been there before.
Silence fell.
Not peaceful silence. The pregnant quiet before a storm's final crescendo.
"Last round?" Rocks offered, grinning despite the blood on his teeth.
Harald nodded slowly. "Last round."
They gathered their strength. Every ounce of Haki, every drop of stamina, every fragment of will they possessed. The air itself began to warp, space distorting around them like heat haze.
<
They moved as one.
The final clash was beyond description.
Both swords met perfectly, both infused with the absolute peak of their wielders' power. Conqueror's Haki, Armament Haki, Future Sight, Battle Sense, decades of experience and centuries of warrior tradition—everything converged in a single instant.
The world went white.
Sound ceased to exist.
Time seemed to stop.
And when reality reasserted itself—
The island of Elbaf bore a scar that would last forever.
A perfectly straight line carved through its center, splitting terrain from coast to coast. Mountains were halved. Forests divided. Even the ocean seemed to part, revealing the seafloor for a brief, impossible moment before water rushed back in.
At the epicenter, Rocks and Harald stood meters apart, both weapons raised, both frozen in the aftermath.
Neither moved.
Both bleeding.
Both grinning.
"Draw," Rocks said finally, lowering his cracked saber.
"Draw," Harald agreed, returning his notched blade to his shoulder.
They stared at each other for a long moment. Then Rocks laughed—that wild, unrestrained sound that seemed to encapsulate his entire being.
"You're incredible, Harald. Truly. It's a damn shame you're on the wrong side."
"I could say the same about you." The giant's expression softened slightly. "You have the strength to change the world, Rocks. But strength without wisdom leads only to ruin."
"And wisdom without strength leads to slavery." Rocks sheathed his damaged weapon. "Guess we'll have to agree to disagree."
"I suppose so."
The pirate turned to leave, then paused. "Offer stands, by the way. Whenever you realize the World Government is using you. My crew will have a spot waiting."
"I won't take it."
"Never know. World's full of surprises." Rocks waved lazily over his shoulder. "See you next time, my favorite giant."
He walked away, whistling that same jaunty tune, like he hadn't just fought a battle that reshaped geography.
Harald watched him go, expression unreadable.
<
End of Chapter 5
Next: Power beyond comprehension. A species born from legends. And Arlo takes his first real step toward supremacy...